During the last few years, the phenomenon of bacterial attachment to host epithelial cells has become of great interest (Ref. 1). Two Swedish groups (Ref. 2 and 3) have suggested that the di-galactose compound of formula 1 below should act as a receptor in the attachment of fimbriated uropathogenic Coli bacteria to the surface of urinary-tract epithelial cells in humans. Moreover, the di-galactose moiety is considered to be present on the surface of the epithelial cells in the form of trihexosylceramide (formula 2 below) and globoside.
Furthermore, the digalactose-containing glycolipid "galabiosyl ceramide" (formula 3 below) is present in kidney tissue (Ref. 4), although the function of the compound is not known. ##STR3##
Simple glycosides (e.g. methyl and p-nitrophenyl) of compound 1 and of the trisaccharide moiety of compound 2 have been shown to inhibit the agglutination of uropathogenic Coli bacteria with certain rod blood cells (Ref. 1). This indicates the use of compound 1 for the preparation of novel types of diagnostic reagents and also of therapeutics having a novel kind of activity compared with traditional antibiotics i.e. inhibition of bacterial attachment to epithelium instead of killing the bacteria.